caduceus clay made possibly the most selfish request of his life.
his friends knelt in grieved agony over the corpse of a loved one he’d never met. and he closed his eyes,
and he prayed,
and he stood in front of melora and the raven queen, a cleric with the god-given duty to keep vigil over the border between life and death, and he felt no shame as he asked for the skein of fate to be rewoven.
the arrogance! the gall!
he said, “whatever it was, just put it back. i think they’ve earned it. put it back.”
and melora turned to the raven queen and said, “surely, you can’t say no.”
and the raven queen said, “i absolutely can.”
and a voice beneath the raven queen said, “i think it would be better not to, my lady.”
and the raven queen paused as they all looked down at the black-feathered man with a bone-white antler protruding from his shoulder.
and an eternity and a moment passed, and the raven queen said, “i will allow one more chance. one more.”
and from her hand the small orange mote pulsed, and it heard its friends’ pleas once more, and this time summoned within it enough strength to drift to the outstretched palm of the wild lady of arvandor, an-melzidanye, the wild mother.
and the raven queen bowed her head, the mask expressionless.
and melora smiled down at the mote of life and said, “so it shall be, dear one.”
and caduceus opened his eyes in time to see green unfurl around him.
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I always think that sport events, especially international ones, are primarily about fun and cultural exchange and hanging out together; it gets lost sometimes when people pay too much attention to keeping scores, but joy and building bridges should be more important. So glad this seems to be happening right now!
I don’t follow soccer at all so I have no feelings on the World Cup, but I’m loving seeing people discover the US for the first time and finding joy here.
Another visual demonstration that historical clothing wasn’t dingy and monochrome.
All of these colours can be obtained from vegetable dyes, producing different shades depending on what mordant (colour fixative - alum, different metal filings, different vinegars) was used. See here and here for examples.
Not clothes, but this was a palette developed by the National Museum of Denmark based on paint residue from archaeological finds for the purpose of painting a reconstructed hall.
Apparently, they can tell from the chemical composition that the colours wouldn’t be mixed with black or white to mute them, but be used in their brightest form. Bright yellow and red was achieved with expensive dyes (orpiment and cinnabar) and was thus fashionable. (Source in Danish)
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The Onion’s staff is tired of waiting for the courts to settle its pending takeover of Alex Jones’ brand, so the new Infowars will launch ne
Now The Onion says it isn’t waiting on the courts anymore.
“Alex is holding Infowars.com hostage,” Collins said in a phone interview. “He’s trying to intentionally degrade the assets so these families can never sell them, and the courts have largely obliged. We’re tired of waiting around.”
“We are allowed, and even more, these families are entitled to this stuff,” Collins added. “Somebody’s got to do this, or else he’ll get away with it.”
I'm a little ways into my Veilguard playthrough and like...
Varric's stoned af.
That's the only thing that explains why he spends all day in his pajamas and is barely involved with the plot past the opening. While we're slogging through blight, he's at home snarfing down cheetos and playing switch games all day, only occasionally to pop in long enough to say "Good work team!"
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or: brood has had many thoughts about the crows and lucanis for a long time now
While this meta is about Lucanis and Veilguard, I need to begin with Zevran.
In DAO, Zevran takes a job he knows he cannot do. But after the Warden unexpectedly spares him, he becomes a Crow on the run—and he stays a Crow on the run for the rest of his life. It is important to consider this, and to consider that Zevran is no one in particular, not politically. He is not important to the Crows' politics or to any politics outside of that organization. Essentially, he's one of many.
Despite this, the Crows hunt him.
There is no choice for anyone to stop being a Crow, ever. It is a lifelong commitment for even the most ordinary and unremarkable (again, speaking politically, although also in terms of skill) among them. For Lucanis Dellamorte, grandson of Caterina, the current First Talon? For Lucanis Dellamorte, who has been trained and groomed to succeed Caterina? For Lucanis Dellamorte, who is uniquely skilled amongst the Crows, so much so that he got his own unique moniker and was the immediate recommendation for Rook's team?
If there was no choice for Zevran, there is certainly no choice for Lucanis. His preferences are immaterial. His desires are immaterial. His duty is paramount—it is treated as paramount by those around him, and it has been drilled into him that it is paramount. And Lucanis is deeply bonded with all those he considers family, even when those relationships are deeply strained; this absolutely includes Caterina.
Caterina is abusive. We learn as much in game. It is treated as unremarkable by Lucanis, inevitable, and that tells us something that is repeatedly confirmed: the Crows, as an organization, are abusive. Their training is torture now, just as it was for Zevran.
If he had been able to make a choice, to step down, to say "no," that would have shown the Crows in a softened light. One could argue that it might only have shown Caterina in a softened light, but we have to remember that Veilguard is doing two things at once with their characters: they are showing them as individuals, and they are showing them as representatives. Caterina is one of the faces of the Crows, both in-world and within the narrative. The fact that she is abusive has a narrative parallel. The fact that she doesn't give Lucanis a choice has a narrative parallel. The fact that she announces his new role in public has a narrative parallel.
The Crows are an organization. Part of that is performance, as performances establish and formalize conceptual, abstract principles. There is a veneer of glamor and glory that is a thin coating over the force and demand, and that, too, has a narrative parallel.
If Lucanis could choose, could say no, that would undermine what the game had spent so long showing us. That underneath the witticisms and the flowery language of freedom and protection lay a violent demand. We see this even in the visuals of the Crows: they have ornate, elaborate outfits. But no amount of preening and presentation will change the knife in their hand or the blood on it.
It's not softening, it's a misdirect. And it's not even that much of a misdirect, as the game repeatedly reiterates that, yes, these are killers. Lucanis, for all his kindness, for all his warmth, for all his sweet care for others, is himself a cold-blooded killer. He will take contracts and he will fulfill them. It seems that in his story he leaves some people alive and leaves innocents alive, which reflects favorably on his personal morals, but it does not make him other than what he is.
It is also a mercy that is permissible under the guise of precision and skill. He kills only who he must! That is skillful! Even if there is mercy in it—and to be clear, I think there is—the mercy can be ignored when other Crows are interpreting what he's done. That, imo, shows a deep political savviness as well, which makes sense to me, as Lucanis has been navigating the upper echelons of the Crows for so long.
So there is no way, narratively, for Lucanis to turn down the role of First Talon. A Crow has no real options… but a wily Crow can find routes within the limits, and Lucanis is a wily Crow. He will not be Caterina. Nor is it realistic to assume the Crows will be completely transformed under his leadership, especially considering the inter-organizational tensions and the very real possibly that a league of trained assassins could—and probably will—try to assassinate the First Talon, especially if he immediately starts making drastic changes that are counter to their established identity.
Even saying yes to an offer he cannot say no to will not save him, but it will limit the risk. And, notably, it will all but eliminate the risk to those he cares about. But a Lucanis who turns against the Crows? Who denies the title that is seen as his birthright, his destiny, Caterina's true legacy? That Lucanis will be a target not just of political opportunists within the Crows, but of the Crows themselves. And that Lucanis becomes a free-for-all, protected by none; and the Crows, brutal as they are, may well seek out those he cares about. Illario, possibly, but I'm thinking more of a Rook he is friends with or partnered with, or Neve. They might also go after others from the Veilguard, perhaps viewing them all as potential allies of their deserter leader.
Because the thing is… the Crows, as an organization, cannot abide someone, anyone, leaving. But they especially cannot abide a would-be-leader leaving. If Lucanis can turn his back on the Crows, can sever his ties to the organization, and can live, then who else may? The organization itself cannot tolerate that.
I speak of "the organization" as an abstract but thinking-feeling entity, which I think is fairly accurate. No one Crow embodies the entirety of the organizations' self-concept, but rather, all Crows embody elements of it, propaganda and performance and promise, suave words laid over cutting edges, all aware of the violence just beneath. And, as is always the case with such organizations, organizations that could easily and accurately be compared to cults, (I am not making light of cults/authoritarian control groups by saying that, mind. I am utilizing the BITE model) the inter-community elements are meant to create an internal narrative that is constantly reinforced, until it becomes second-nature and largely unquestioned. For instance, I fully believe that Viago believes that the Crows are protecting Antiva. That the Crows are the thin line between safety and annihilation. That Treviso, under the rule of the Crows, is free.
But Viago is and has been part of the Crows. He is and has been influenced by their concepts through constant exposure. And I think that he, as an individual, wants that to be the case. He wants the Crows to be defending Treviso, to be defending Antiva, even if, at the organizational level, it is more accurate to say that they are defending themselves.
We are seeing inside the cult. Thus, we are unlikely to see significant deviation away from the prevailing ideology. But the fact that recruits are tortured, the fact that the Crows are a league of assassins, the fact that they hold so much power over Treviso, these are things we are shown and these are things we are meant to know. None of it is made secret to us. None of it is subtle. And this, coming from a videogame franchise that has represented organizations based on authoritarian control multiple times: the Chantry, the Templars, the Circles, and yes, the Crows…
What's more, we see that in Thedas, assassin leagues are largely accepted so long as they are considered part of the area they operate in. Orlais' House of Repose, for instance. Even Josephine insists that the House of Repose must follow their contracts, that they are obligated to abide by their own rules.
Of course, anything could be different. Veilguard might have chosen a different message and, with it, a different route to support that message. The Crows might have been changed. Many things might have happened, and I'm not criticizing anyone who wanted those different things to happen. But within the narrative we got, I think that all elements make a lot of sense and cohere very effectively.
Cool, so you want natural fiber costumes with no/nuanced corset slander, people wearing colors, historical hairstyles, people wearing hats or headcoverings and long sleeves outside during the day, no potatoes or pumpkins in pre-columbian Europe, actors with textured skin and wrinkles, minimal makeup, consulting HEMA groups and weapons scholars for all the weapons and fight scenes, a good soundtrack that includes traditional instruments?
Oh, you mean you want 100% white people. Even in crowd scenes in port cities. There's a different word for that.
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There's a better shot of it in Aliens, right at the start when they're listing the Nostromo crew memebrs!
Also I read that there are deleted scenes of Ripley and Lambert arguing and being more overtly in a relationship. Ever since I learned that it's been my favorite ship.
